REFLECTION 1: A case of effective language learning

With a little help from my friends.

The second hour was about to begin and the room has already some visitors in it. In this ESL classroom the doors are open for anybody who wants to give some help. The students here are from different parts of the world, this is reflected in; different L1, cultural background, ages and English levels. The visitors in this clasroom are some American students from the same high scool.

The class starts, Ms. Ross gives the instructions: Students have to go to the bookcase, pick up a book and begin reading it. The visitors help students; Reading with them, helping them with the pronunciation of some words or just listening to these beginners English learners.

Then, the students have to write about what have they read. The information required was: Name of the book, what it was about, name of the author, what you liked about the book and who you read with.

Analysis.

The effectiveness of the activity was proved when Ms. Ross checked what the students have read. Everybody has something to say about their books.

I think that this activity is learner-centered. Students worked almost by themselves; They chose what to read (content meaningful for them), which is also motivating for them, and later develop the questions about the book. The teacher here is just an observer of what is happening in the classroom.

In this activity, we can also see the importance of social interaction in learning a language. The students have the opportunity to receive feedback from English speakers who were from their same level age, rather than just from the teacher. This activity was very personalized, each student can work with someone individually.